This invention relates to a process for producing fuel gas and sulfur from a hydrocarbon fuel.
Hydrocarbon fuels which are normally burned in industrial installations, such as coal and oil fired power stations, contain sulfur which under normal circumstances is converted to sulfur dioxide in the combustion process and is vented to atmosphere with the other effluent gases from the process. In addition to being a major cause of air pollution, the sulfur dioxide also lowers product quality and reduces efficiency and production.
Several techniques have been proposed to reduce the content of sulfur in hydrocarbon fuels and in the fuel and flue gases derived therefrom, and many of these techniques involve the formation of a sulfur dioxide gas which must be subjected to a further reaction to produce elemental sulfur. However, these additional reactions are often relatively low in efficiency and thus reduce the overall efficiency of the complete separation process.